The UK cannot let AI “wash over our economy and pick up the pieces afterwards”, the Science Secretary has said as he prepares to launch the Government’s plans for the technology. Peter Kyle is set to unveil the Government’s plans for AI alongside the Prime Minister on Monday, setting out how the UK will encourage tech innovation in a bid to boost growth.
Speaking ahead of the launch of the AI Action Plan, Mr Kyle said he wanted to make sure that people “from every background” could use and benefit from the technology. Acknowledging that there would be “disruption” to the jobs market as a result of AI, he told Sky News’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips it would “also create a lot of new jobs”.
He said: “If it’s used wisely, it will make workers’ lives in the workplace much more efficient, effective and satisfying.”. But he also stressed the need to seize the opportunities presented by AI and place Britain in the “forefront” of innovation, saying: “I’m not someone who thinks we should just sit back and let this technology wash over our economy and pick up the pieces afterwards.”.
While the details of the AI Action Plan will be revealed on Monday, Mr Kyle said it would include a “sovereign unit” that would bring the sector together to encourage innovation. Comparing the UK to Silicon Valley, he said “all of the constituent elements” were present in Britain but “it’s not coming together, adding up to more than the sum of its parts”.
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